Grocery Prices Up Slightly and Bird Flu Vaccine Coming
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**Grocery prices increased slightly last month, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.3% in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.2% in December.
The food index AND the food at home index both rose 0.4% in January, while food away from home rose 0.5%.
For the year, the food at home index rose 1.2%, while food away from home rose 5.1%.
**Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says a U.S. vaccine for bird flu is coming.
That news as CCD data shows more than 81 million U.S. poultry and aquatic birds have been killed by avian flu since January 2022.
This year, the U.S. has found bird flu in eight commercial flocks and 14 backyard flocks, affecting 530,000 birds.
Vilsack says we’re probably 18 months away from a vaccine effective for current flu strains.
**The federally subsidized crop insurance program will cost an additional $27.7 billion over the next decade.
A Congressional Budget Office report says the government pays roughly 62 cents of each dollar in premiums, and sales of livestock and forage policies are exploding.
A Farmdoc report says crop insurance costs should rise by 29% to nearly $125 billion for the decade ending in 2033.
